Eliana Prado
It has always been a dream of mine to open up my own clothing boutique. The thought of having my own store excited me and gave me butterflies in my stomach. This dream all started when a boutique called “Nicole J Boutique” opened up in my town. The first time I walked in there, I fell in love. From clothing, to shoes and accessories, it was like I was in a magical place. I have always had a love for fashion, and after going to this boutique, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.
I had a plan. I was going to go to college for fashion merchandising, learn more about the fashion industry and get internships. By the time I was a junior or senior in college, I wanted to start my boutique online so by the time I graduated, I could hopefully have enough money to open my own store front. I had this planned out for years. I got accepted into Thomas Jefferson University for Fashion Merchandising and started my freshman year in 2019. As we all know, we got sent home and had to quarantine. I was always so bored, having nothing to do besides school work and watch netflix, and when school ended the boredom got worse.
One day during quarantine, I was telling my parents my plan for my boutique and my dad had the idea to lock in elisboutique.com so no one could get it before I graduated. After we purchased the link, I thought “Why not start now?”. I started my boutique as a thrift and uplifted clothing store. I had my friends and family donate clothes to me that they didn’t want anymore and I would make some of them into my own by cropping them, bleach dying, or tie dying them. I also ordered t-shirts, crewnecks, and sweatshirts in bulk so I could start my Butterfly Collection. The Butterfly Collection is something very special to me. I applied butterfly patches on tie dye, bleach dye, and solid colored tops. After my website launch, I reinvested everything I made back into my boutique and started buying more clothing from actual boutique wholesalers.
I started my boutiques Instagram and Facebook page a month before my website launch. I posted routinely until my launch date so I could build up my followers before my website went live. I even had a countdown until my launch date so everyone knew exactly how many days there were until they could start shopping at Eli's Boutique. Not only did I have to uplift a bunch of clothing and run the social media accounts, I had many photoshoots as well. A lot of my friends modeled for me and helped me with my boutique, which I am so thankful for.
June 27th, 2020 is when my boutique finally launched. It was a stressful but amazing day. I had pulled an all nighter so I could have my website ready by noon. There were people on my website as soon as it launched, with many more going on it throughout the day. My launch day was super successful, I was even surprised by the amount of orders I received in that one day. My launch day will be something that I will always remember, the start to my career.
Ever since my launch, my boutique has been doing really well. I have a restock day once a week and that is when I get my most sales. I eventually bought jewelry, hats, and scrunchies for my boutique so my customers can have more options to shop. I even starting making unisex shirts so guys can shop with me as well! I also started making graphic crewnecks and sweatshirts. I even made an option for customers to customize their own and add any graphic they want to any top. I can’t wait to add more and more options to my website!
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